# Lady Hale's spider brooch

> Online reactions to Hale’s spider brooch inspired 6,500 charity T-shirt sales in a day.

- Owner: null
- Kind: Moment
- Sector: Politics & civic
- Seed date: 2019-09-24
- Peak date: 2019-09-24
- Spread Score: 47 (Notable), v1.2
- Mechanics: Visible in use, Response chain, Creator relay, Platform jump, Press loop, Political adoption

## Summary

Twitter jokes about Hale’s televised spider brooch spread into press and forum discussion. Balcony Shirts reported 6,500 T-shirt sales in a day. Politicians wore spiders, Lyst reported higher searches, and an exhibition and memoir later adopted the motif.

## Timeline

- 2019-09-24 — Lady Hale (TV) — Hale delivered the ruling that Parliament’s suspension was unlawful while wearing the spider brooch.
- 2019-09-24 — Tiernan Douieb (X) — Tiernan Douieb joked that he hoped the spider would not get Hale before she announced the ruling.
- 2019-09-24 — The Irish News (Press) — The Irish News collected brooch jokes by Herring, Avery and David QC.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/lady-hale-spider-brooch

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Lady Hale's spider brooch.” Case HIS-00262. Spread Score v1.2: 47/100. Updated 2026-10-13. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00262